


Crossed Bones

by Devil_Darling



Category: Undertale
Genre: Gen, Minor Character Death, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-07-19 07:57:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19970650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Devil_Darling/pseuds/Devil_Darling
Summary: The universe works in mysterious ways. You don't understand it and you can't fight it. You just know if it wanted you dead then you would be. Simple as that. So maybe things do happen for a reason.





	1. Praise Thy Savior

Far away, and far beneath mt Ebott lies the underground. A wide range cavern with its varying varieties of mystical beings known as monsters. A millennium long punishment, result of a long forgotten war. Magical beings locked away by humans for the fear of their souls being taken and used against them for greater power. With humans having far more powerful souls, the monsters stood no chance. 7 mages were used to construct a barrier to keep them imprisoned, thus 7 souls required to break it, to one day free the monsters and end their imprisonment. Until that day the world above would go on ignorant of the one below.

Unbeknownst to the humans and mages all those centuries ago, not all monsters where sealed away into the mountain and not all that resisted were dusted. Many fled, but few were successfull in their attempt. Those who did escape, went into hiding in far away lands, waiting and watching their backs for century's for some human to come and dust them. But eventually the humans carried on with their own lives and forgot. History became legends, and legends eventually became fairytales.

* * *

Under the streets of Paris resides the many tunnels and chambers of the catacombs. Few of which are openly toured by humans on a daily basis, curious of the history it holds or by the rumors of ghost that are said to haunt the trails of piled high corpses. Select few know the ways of the hidden trails that sprawl out beneath the city like a spider's web. Many routes blocked off for the safety of the public, Many more concealed for others own uses. Deep within the catacombs there resides a cult, one like no other.

A chamber Illuminated by candle light and a throne constructed from the surrounding bones, there sits a hooded figure cloaked in black. Silently they observe their surrounding worshippers, as peace offerings are placed before them. From jewels, to silvers and golds, to fruits and flowers. Each placed alongside whispererd and silent prayers alike from those who have some and to those who have very little. But all the same they're still willing to give what they can, to please their God and keep ahead of death... If they're lucky.

When the last of the donations have been placed, the room falls silent as another cloaked figure steps forward. A women in red, with black markings across her face. She looks up towards the being on the throne, nodding her head in respect and then back to the awaiting worshipers. 

"We gather on this beautiful day", she begins. "To praise our beloved guardian, Devale". (De-val-eh)

"Praise Devale". The worshipers chant in unison. The preacher waves her hand towards the guardian. "They who gift us with their holy prescence, spreading love and compassion to all who seek it". Another monotone chant echoes from the worshipers. "They who reap the weak and judge the soul of its worth, healing those in need". Once more they chant. "For them, we share our eternal gratitude with these wondrous offerings and give thanks for their judgment, amen". 

"Amen". The room repeats. The guardian alowly rises from the throne and in a flash of green light, a scythe appears in their skeletal hand. A green aura surrounding the sharp curved bone that forms the blade, magic connecting it to a long bone that forms the staff. To the current worshipping humans, it is a holy weapon. One that can save lives. Or if spread rumors hold true, also end them. "Comeforth", says the preacher with open arms. "comeforth and let your souls be judged".

With hesitance, a young women is first to stand. From the looks of it, she's not all that worse for wear. A bit shabby here and there, but even Devale knows, she's not there for herself. The women glances nervously between the preacher and the so called deity, before pulling a small child into the open. A boy with sunken blue eyes and matted black hair. His weak lungs no doubt aching horribly as he's barely able to contain his coughing fit. Who knows how bad his condition could get if allowed to carry on. Another week or so and he'd most likely be beyond saving.

Even with the clear look of uncertainty, the women guides her son forward to the awaiting preacher who can only give a reasuring smile as she too then takes the child and places him before Devale. Only when the oddly warming touch of a skeletal hand cups his cheek does the boy seem to react. His eyes slowly travele upward, meeting two green orbs of light that seem to stand out against the unexplainable void of the being's hood. Entranced by the two soothing lights the boy doesn't seem to notice when the hand falls away and the scythe raises up.

Those who choose to, look away. Those who watch, flinch, as it swiftly comes down piercing his chest, earning an audiable gasp from the child's mother. The boys eyes flutter close as green magic starts to swirl and seep through the blade and into him, healing his body and soul. No more than a minute, is the scythe pulled away and the boys unconscious form is carefully handed to his anxiously awaiting mother. 

The preacher placea a hand on the mothers shoulder and addressing the awaiting worshippers. "Fear not for the weak do not have to suffer. ",There is commpassion for all that are deemed worthy. But remember it too comes at a price". 

"Loyalty and love". The worshippers chant together. "Secrecy from the streets above". "Amen". the preacher says bowing her head. "Now. Comeforth and let your souls be judged".


	2. Past and Parish

"43 euros, 2 gold rings, 3 silver chains, a gold bracelet, a decent basket of various fruits and a small bouquet of random flowers. Not to bad this week. What do you think?".The women no longer dressed in a cloak looks up from the pile of goods. "Dev? Dev!"

Dozing off at the end of the table you startle awake, your green eye lights shrinking to mere pin pricks before refocusing. "Huh? Oh uh yeah". You can't fight the yawn that prys your maw open, showing off a pair of rather sharp fangs, before snapping shut again. "Made out pretty good".

"You know you don't have to heal so many of them right?". The women slides the valuable goods into a leather bag. "You gotta take some energy for yourself so you dont y'know, dust or what ever it is you say monsters do when they die, besides you look less feminine when you slouch like that".

You prop your skull up against your hand, your sockets half lidded. "Yeah yeah. Jeez you sound like my mother. I'll admit I gave quite a bit to the sick kid, and there was a guy with a bad heart, the others were give a little, take a little, but trust me Jul, it balanced out by the end. It usually does".

Julie or Jul for short just shakes her head. She was not convinced in the slightest. "I dont know how we've managed to keep this up for so long. I can tell It's wearing you down. I bet if your father was still around he'd kick your ass for playing god and my ass for helping you".

"No". You argue. "Actually he'd be pretty proud, probably say something along the lines of "my daughter was meant to be treated as a goddess it's the least these humans could do". My mother on the other hand would not appreciate what we're doing. something about wasting magic and taking advantage of the already daft creatures".

Jul scoffs. "Suppose she would have had a point...hey do you think they would have liked me?".

You close your sockets for a moment, unable to hide the sleepy grin that creeps up on your face. "I dont think they would have tried to eat you if that's what your asking". You snicker as Jul looked at her forearm, running her fingers over the scar indentations from a certain skeletons teeth. "Had they been around when I found you, all weak and small, they would have probably taken you in, fed you roasted cat and adopted you. I mean that's technically what I did".

Jul put a hand on her hip. "Really? because I remember getting attacked and bitten, at the time by a certain child sized skeleton. Biting them back in attempt to fight them off and afterwards trying to befriend them by helping them catch rats because I felt bad for making them cry".

You lift your right arm looking over the radius that Jul had bitten all those years ago, no real marks since humans have such dull teeth but the memory was fresh as the day it happened. From stalking and attacking to Jul clutching her bleeding arm as you ran away clutching her own. Definitely NOT crying out of fear that you might get a human illness and dust.

It was a terribly executed plan from the start especially since Jul had bravery as a main soul trait. Though that's what got her lost in the catacombs in the first place. But it got her away from an abusive father who wouldn't care if he had one less mouth to feed. Suppose a kid who can take a hit from their own father wouldn't really think twice about trying to fight off what they once thought was a fairy tail creature. Maybe think twice about befriending one but it didnt stop her. No matter how many times you threatened to take her soul if she didnt leave you alone. It was a bluff of course, and somehow Jul knew it. After a while the thought of having company didnt seem so bad. So you let her stay. You never would admit it because that's how you were, but Jul made life easier and a lot less lonely. But mainly easier. She could walk amongst the humans while you would stick to the shadows. One could pickpocket while the other could use magic to get what they wanted. And somehow you two never got caught. You not quite sure how that turned into creating a cult for the sick and naive. But you didnt care. You choose who to heal and who to steal energy from. All Jul had to do was find them on the streets and convince them that just for a small price they could be healed of any and all ailments. The gamble was how much they had and how much where they willing to give. You knew the ones who just wanted to live a little longer from those who with a little cold who think they found the key to immortality. 

"Agree to disagree". You waved off. Funny my dad always told me humans were dirty creatures, but in my defense so were the stray animals we ate. So I thought, hmm heres one I can take on, I wonder how it would taste? I should have listened because that was an awful experience. And I didn't expect you to bite back, let alone so hard. Had dad been there, he would have kicked my coxy for doing something so stupid".

Pouring some tea Jul couldn't help smile thinking how insane everything seemed as a mere child. If she was being honest the fact that she was running a cult with a skeleton monsters was in itself insane. But if it wasnt for you she'd have died alone within the catacombs all those years ago.

"Weird that It all worked out. But look at us now". Jul waved around. "We have our own cult that praises you like a God and a homely little shack with everything we need. The worshipers provide as long as they believe. We have a good gig going on here, but we can't keep it up if you don't keep your energy up. Remember what you said about over use of magic?"

You sighed. "If I over use my magic I run the risk of burning out".

"Which means?" Jul gestured for you to continue. You couldnt help but roll your eye lights.

"which means I run the risk of fracturing my soul and enough fractures can lead to potential dusting, which is like the equivalents of you having heart failure. But Dusting is definitely way more graceful as a means of death. Unless you consider you guys getting burned up".

"Well as they say ashes to ashes and dust to dust" Jul took another sip of her tea. "Maybe, for just a little while, you should heal only a couple people and take a little more from everybody else. I know how that sounds but you need it".

"I'll think about it". You muttered as you laid your skull on the table, stifling another yawn.

Jul gave a sympathetic look. "Go take a nap. I'll be back in a few hours once I get all this stuff sold. I'll see if I can get some sweets. sound good?".

You only responded with a thumbs up.

* * *

3 weeks later.

Watching as the usual offerings are placed at the base of your throne, you can't help but notice a strange lingering scent. You glance over at Jul as she stands in her usual spot waiting just the same. red cloak and black face markings in place, seemingly unaffected due to her normal human sense of smell.

You try to brush it off as nothing. If anything it was probably one of the humans. You always thought those from the streets smelled weird. Some like smoke and tobacco, some like liquor. Others like...well shit. At least some were clean. As the last couple people place their offerings, you continue to scan the room, searching, for who or what? You dont really know. Jul takes her place and begins the usual spiel of praise Devale this and praise Devale that, the same chants returning from the believers. Though it helped sell the cult theme, Sometimes you wish she would update the speech. This was about the 210th mass give or take. You'd never tell her, but you were tired of it by the 10th. 

On cue, you take a step forward, summoning your magic scythe. Sure you could have tried to be original and make up a sword or maybe a trident but then you wouldn't have gotten the title as the anti reaper. Though you could never bring yourself to kill a human, you thought the grim reaper was the coolest thing humans ever made up. And thanks to that, this whole cult shtick worked out.

As the first person stands up to be "judged" a movement in the back, catches your attention. A man you've seen before stands up, making his way out of the chamber, not before crumbling up a piece of paper and tossing it to the floor. He turns slightly looking staight at you, and the way he looks back, with such hatred in his eyes, Has your soul on guard, sending spikes of magic through your bones. Just as you turn to Jul to address the matter, that lingering scent becomes overpowering. Theres a loud bang and a bright light, sending shooting pain along your body with the feeling of weightlessness and even more pain. Then everything goes black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Went back and changed the point of view. So I wouldn't fight myself on it later. Honestly can't tell if it's better or worse lol. 
> 
> Thank you for reading.


	3. No God Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's an adventure without pain to start it off?

Dark, darker, yet darker. There is no one and nothing. Just vast emptyness. Its eerie yet soothing. There is no pain here. No hunger, no fear, no nothing. Your just numb. As if all senses have been cast away. And at the moment that's all you want, is to revel in the bliss of being numb, but unfortunately it doesn't last. It fades away all to soon. A strong throbbing pain leading you back into conscious agony.

The ringing in your skull subsides, though the throbbing is still very much present. Your vision comes back to a blurry nightmare. What you would give to go back to being in that dark place. Slowly looking around through the dust and smoke, the room is in shambles. Offerings and old bones are scattered everywhere, as are large chunks of rock from the ceiling. Those sparred from harm are probably still running to get back to the streets, promising to never look back. As any sane person would.

Among the wreckage, the sight that's sends a shooting pain straight to your soul from seeing, is Jul. Her red claok strewn around her, tattered to hell and soaking into a darker crimson. You know her soul within is flickering like that of a dying flame and you swear you can hear it screaming out. When you try to move, more pain erupts, causing you to cry out. Everything feels like it's on fire. You're in a bad way, theres no doubt about it, but you have to get to Jul. You can't suppress the groans and whimpers as you weakly drag yourself over to your friend's dying form. Only one side of limbs wanting to function like they're suppose to, making it that much harder.

Everything hurts, but you make it over. And just when you're within arms reach, just when you can grab the soul and try and save it, does it shatter and crumble into nothing. This couldn't be real. You thought over and over. It had to be a dream. Just a nightmare. It couldn't be anything but. But why weren't you waking up? No. No matter how many times you begged for it all to be just a terrible dream, the reality stayed as it was. You had no choice but to accept this reality. You didn't want to, stars you really didn't want to, but there was nothing that could be done. Even if the soul was still right there, you would have ended up dusting before both Juls body and soul were even near salvageable. 

Bright green tears start to streak down from your sockets. Your injuries scream out in protest as you embrace Juls body, hugging it tightly against your aching chest, rocking back and forth into a sobbing mess. Something you hadn't done since your own parents slipped past your phalanges into dust so long ago. Once again in your life, you were utterly and entirely alone.

It wasn't for a while that the tears and useless apoloizes stopped and you finally releases your hold on Jul, gently laying her down before, moving away and slumping yourself against the base of your broken throne. You didnt want to, but you really needed to attend your own damage, from what you could feel you know its not pretty.

Two right phalanges broke, Right radius broke, the ulna broke. Humerus cracked. Right fibula broke, the tibia, what do you know? Broke. Majority of all right ribs cracked and or broke, left side sporting a few cracks. Thank the stars for magic keeping everything together. You raise your working arm up to the throbbing side of your skull, even through it felt like it was your whole skull you weren't surprised to feel a golf ball sized spiderweb crack on the right temporal bone. smack dab in the middle. You dropped your arm with a sigh looking around at the mess before you and the seemingly judging skulls of the dead around you. "Looks like I'm not the best looking skeleton here anymore huh fellas". You joked giving a pathetic laugh. You already cried, anger would only worsen your entire state so why not laugh right?

Resting your skull against the base of the throne you close your eye sockets for a moment, taking in a few steadying breaths, before opening them again. Your right socket void of all light, while the left is engulfed in the looks of a large green glowing cat eye. Healing magic starts to surround your bones, ever so slowly mending them back together. A timely healing process in your current state, but a healing process nonetheless. Had you not taken Juls advise when you did, you'd most likely would have been dusted, not that you weren't close. You didn't even want to think about your souls condition right now. You'd deal with that later. Two of those detonations would have certainly done the trick and would have killed more humans. But you know they weren't the ones being targeted. You glanced over to the crumpled up paper, in the corner of the room. You can't help but recall the human and the hatred in his eyes. You knew he was to blame for all this. And sooner or later you'd find him. Curiosity getting the better of you and just testing the limite of your soul, you spare a little more magic to pick up the paper and bring it within reach. Using your good arm, you grab it out of the air and do your best to smooth it out.

" **Monsters beneath us, now amongst us?** "

_"7 year old child emerges from famous mountain, along side what is said to be known as monster kind. Imprisoned under mt ebott for over a millennium the barrier that has said to keep them there, has been destroyed thus releasing them into what we have always and only known as mankind's world. Should we fear them? Or should we accept them? More information will be released at a later date._

You blink a few times, trying to process what you just read. Your mind was still kinda fuzzy and looking at the picture posted it was bit blurry, but It showed a human child standing along side various creatures. You quickly find the date and to your surprise the paper was released almost...6 months ago. Monsters are above ground? And you're just now finding out about it? No. You only found out because some racist just tried to dust you. 6 months your kind has been above ground, your not even in the same country as them. How did someone like that man find out about them? How did he find out about you or even know enough to realize you where a monster and not some human con artist? Did he know or did he even care? What did he have to gain? The more you thought about it the worse your skull seem to hurt. Had you known about monsters resurfacing maybe you could have seen someyhing like this coming, maybe you could have avoided it. You sat back, eye sockets closed, as your bones continued to slowly heal. It would take a while for everything to mend back together so in that time you needed to process this new information. And start thinking of a plan.

The day after the explosion, after you had healed a little bit, you limped around putting together a makeshift funeral for Jul. You owed her that. You cleaned away the paint and blood, placed her body on a bed of bones, draped her in her favorite blanket and surrounded her with whatever flowers and mementos that you had and that could be found. It wasn't alot but she would have appreciated it. Placing a skeletal kiss to Juls forehead you said your final goodbye. You couldn't help the green tears that rolled down your face as a large hot beam of energy rained down on Juls body, turning it to nothing but ash. 

It wasn't until almost 6 days later that you were almost fully healed. Cracks faded into scars and breaks turned into minor cracks that eventually faded into scars. You were just happy everything was back in place and working properly. That was the main priority. And after you were sure that your HP was nearly back to being full, you decided to leave the catacombs for good. Only taking what cash you and Jul had saved up. You ditched the cloak and switched out for a more modern look. Sporting a nice grey jacket with a large hood, blue jeans, a pair of black combat boots and some thin black gloves. All thanks to some rifled through donations bins.

Roaming the streets at night, you kept to the shadows and watched the humans. You never killed a human before, though the thought had crossed you mind several times after Juls death, but you vowed that you would never kill, you remember your parents teaching you the dangers of gaining EXP and LV. So no death. But in your opinion nothing was wrong with near death and nothing made you happier than leaving bad humans with traumatic experiences. Given the chance, you'd give them pain for their wrong doings and siphone some of their energy for your own benefit and probably out of spite. You would find the bastard that killed Jul. And then you'd find a way to Ebott. 


	4. Hells to do list

Almost a month has gone by since you left the catacombs in search of the human that made the right side of your body look like a children's jigsaw puzzle. During that time you can say you had the chance to grieve over Jul. Sure you did it a bit out of the usual order, but at least it was something. You went from denial to bargaining to depression, eventually to acceptance. And anger? Well anger never really left. You chose to hang on to it to help fuel you to keep looking, instead of giving up and headed off to Ebott. And the longer it took to find the human the more irritated you got. Lucky you had your ways of blowing off steam. Your...non peaceful ways.   
  
All in all it took longer than you wanted, but thanks to some not so discrete humans that had no issues flaunting their new hate for monsters, and original hate for those of different beliefs and what not, they led you right to their little hate group of a church. And after sneaking in and observing a few of their meetings, you quickly learned it was coincidentally regularly attended by none other than your dirty little friend killer. Funny because it turns out he was their evening preacher.  
  
You listened as he called your kind demons, said from what he had observed, from no doubt you, that you all had the power to manipulate and taint the hearts and minds of humanity. If not stopped human kind would surly perish. And by the right hand of what ever God they praised, it was their sole duty to take action and make sure it never happens. You couldn't help but scoff. By the BS that he spouted, he knew nothing about monsters. But he would. It took a lot for you to keep calm, not bring attention to yourself and definitely not to pull out the scythe right then and there. Everything was about timing. So you watched and waited. Learning more before you decides you had heard enough and were ready to do what you've been waiting to do. And boy was he suprised to see you one lovely evening.  
  
Sure. You had thought about just leaving and trying to forget everything. You really did. But everytime you absentmindedly pulled up your right sleeve or ran your phalanges over the side of your skull, your soul only flared and ached more. So you'd be damed if you were going to let him go scot free. He was lucky you showed what mercy you did. Like he had done to you, you left his body bruised and broken, but still breathing and just like how he left your chamber in the catacombs, you left his church in shambles. Ok more like ruins. But now you felt satisfied. You'd never be even but In your mind you could have done worse. And if you ever had to come back and or see the prick again you would. so with that taken care of, you now had to figure out a way to get to Ebott.  
  
You had three options to get you where you needed to go. One. Sneak onto a plane. Two. sneak onto a boat. Or three. Show yourself to the authorities and hope they deport you to Ebott instead of shooting you on sight. Yeah you didnt like that last idea at all. Probably would have been the sure way to get to Ebott, but like you were gonna trust the humans. So luckily you had the two other options to choose from.

* * *

In your mind, ship stowaway was a fool proof plan. All you had to do was find the right ship that was scheduled to stop in or remotely near Ebott and sneak aboard. Nothing to it. But you didnt exactly take in effect how long the ship would take to get there. Had you taken the plane you would have been there already doing stars knows what. Unfortunately you had trust issues and were not willing to shove those trust issues aside to go 7 miles into the air for a few hours, putting your life in the hands of humans in charge of flying a tin can. That just wasn't happening. So. For more than a week you had been on a container ship, in the dark of a container. Your jacket offering little comfort as you annoyingly slid back and forth due to rough waves. The first day you were excited. A little nervous at the thought of going to the very place that held monster kind imprisoned, but who wouldn't be?

It didn't take long before the excitement died down into boredom. Sleeping only did so much, so eventually you decided to leave the saftey of the container. You were taken back by the vastness of the ocean. It was weird to see nothing but sky and water in every direction, but when the sun set you were left awestruck and even more so with the clear starry nights that fallowed. The best nights where when you could see the full moon rise and bring just a bit of light to such a dark place that was the ocean. Simple things you never fully experienced before, that humans no doubt took for granted. Often times you like to think it was they who should have been forced underground.  
  
Spaced out, you were more than at the halfway point to accepting that you most likely got on the wrong ship. You were never going to get to Ebott. Maybe monsters resurfacing was all just a big hoax anyway. Or maybe they did escape only to get shoved right back under the mountain. A lot can happen in the span of 7 months. So your pretty sure you almost dusted when the ships horn blared. Sounding its arrival. Ebott or not at this point you didnt care anymore. You were so happy to get off the ship you almost considered jumping overboard. Almost.   
  
You managed to sneak around the humans occupying the shipyard. Not that getting caught by them now would really matter much. What were they going to do? Send you back? Not likely. Though you weren't entirely sure you were In the right place until you noticed the sun starting to rise over the distant mountain. This had to be the place because just looking at it sent chills down your spine, but a new excitement burned in your soul. If your doubts didn't come true, you would get to see the monsters that came out of that mountain. You'd get to interact with them and learn from them, but before any of that, you wanted to observe the interaction between monsters and humans. You could only hope it was different from your own experience 

It took about a short drive on top of a semitruck to get to town, but not long after you got there and started roaming did your doubts drain away. The first few monsters you saw, you swore your eyelights had morphed into stars. The different colors, shapes and sizes were nothing you could have imagined. Then as quickly as your eye lights turned back to normal your pretty sure if they could they would have changed into daggers when you noticed the way the humans didn't bother to try and hide their disgust and discomfort. Mothers quickly steered their children away from anything that was clearly not human. Some humans muttered, while others shouted slurs, you even noticed a few restaurants and even small shops had signs declaring their refusal to serve monsters. Ok. This was expected. It was bullshit, but expected. You knew about how the humans did it to their own kind. But it didn't hurt any less to see.  
  
It wasn't before long that you felt like you were being suffocated by being near all these humans. Even when it was just a glance in your direction, you would start to feel twitchy. You decide to find some high ground away from them all. It took a bit if searching and It was tricky figuring a way up, but you managed to sport a decently high up building ledge, containing a few lion statues, if anything it was perfect for cover. You felt better watching from above, safer. It was alot different from being in the catacombs. For so long you had been under the streets and in the dark, hidden away. Your existence known to very few. Jul being the only one that mattered. She was gone and her murderer was delt with, so like hell you'd ever go back. Ebott is where you intended to stay. Weather it worked out for you or not. And you really hope it would.   
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I only procrastinated for like 4 days. 
> 
> It's slow going. but it will get better.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time sharing a fanfic. I hope you all enjoy it.  
> Updates will vary.


End file.
